


Bastard

by Harunos



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Morally Grey Character, Multi, Other, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | PTSD, Team seven bonding, smart!Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27227734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harunos/pseuds/Harunos
Summary: ❝ the trick to lifeIs to have the courageTo walk down the pathThat's lit up in your heart. ❞Born in blood, in fear, in discrimination-Uzumaki Naruto was what many would call the son of a bastard. He held the eyes of a bright sky and his hair shone like it was the moon yet Uzumaki Naruto, born in poverty, in horror, in adultery, was nothing but a bastard child.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke / Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto & Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto & Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto & Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. 竜

_❝_ _and people stared and pointed and called him the demon child. ❞  
_

* * *

The scroll felt heavy in his scarred hands. His nails scratched against the thick paper and the ink felt cold on his fingers. With his hands splayed out on the open parchment, he eyed it with a scrutinizing gaze. The scroll, which was filled with inks of very different kanji and hiragana and pictures of hand signs, was a strange weight that rolled around in his arms as he picked it up, rolled it out and then sat in front of it, roaming his fingers along the smudged ink.

It was heavy in his arms yet it felt lighter than even a feather could. His fingers moved along the edges of the rolled open scroll and he thumbed the corner of it diligently. The sound of owls hooting and bushes rustling gave him indication of where he was—what he was doing—why he was doing it. Insight is what he likes to call it, perhaps there's a better word, but he drags his fingers away from the ink and across the blades of grass. They tickle his skin and he plucks them from soil like they were worms wriggling to the surface for whatever reasons worms wriggled to the surface. Sensation, ( _or maybe it was called only a just perception?)_ , is hard to focus on. The owls hoot in his ears and the blades of grass tickle his skin and he tastes the nervousness on his tongue.

Bitter is what the taste is. Bitter and cold and just like salt but with no real flavor. He doesn't really know what salt tastes like by itself—he resolves to find out though ( _wasn't he doing something? With a scroll in his hands_?) and twirls grass between his thin fingers. Then his eyes grab the notice of a small sunflower sprouting from the soil. It's swaying in a light breeze he doesn't notice and his eyes are now captured by the flower that's appeared by his side. Like a little friend he thinks, ready to help him in need. His fingers twitch, blades of grass falling back to the ground uselessly, and he plucks the sunflower from the soil next, twirling it in his fingers.

He's suppose to be studying the scroll, he knows he is, but every time he looks at it, it reminds him of the exams earlier and he feels disgusted within his own body. His fingers poke at the ink and drag along the kanji, hiragana, and random hand signs scattered all over. It doesn't just tell him why he's here or what he is doing here but it tells him how he got here and it's a long story that tugs at the back of his mind. _Why won't you just remember? Get lost in the memories and swim in your mind._ He wants to—it seems a bit carefree there—but peace is always broken and he doesn't seem keen on figuring out that just how he had gotten there in the first place.

Instead, he rolls.

He rolls the scroll until it stops at its last page. It is a pretty big scroll and he feels overwhelmed with the amount of Jutsu and foreign names echoing in his thoughts. There's seals and chakra natures and even Kekkei Genkais. Clones are the first on the list and he feels inadequate when he stares at the signs and the description of _Shadow Clone Jutsu_ as if it had just punched him in the gut after eating expired food for two days.

_Such a long list—but which to use? To follow? To make into a legend?_ He doesn't know, not really, and the realization knocks him off his feet long enough for him to grab at his hair and tug with the sounds of frustration. There is reason to this large scroll, _there is reason to have situated himself in the woods, there is reason—there is always reason, all things happen within reason, for reason, even because of reasons—,_ always is a reason, and it baffles him at the way his mind shuts down when it was so loud before. Rolling back to sit upright once more, he gazed at the length of the scroll and then leaned back until his back fell on the grass and his gaze to the stars.

This scroll baffles him and his brows furrow as he rolls over to his side. He would need to finish this quick, faster than ever before, and he had to do it now without any interruptions because it was his last chance and the words ring in his head to the point where he doesn't waste time in thinking about what to choose and which to use. Instead, he goes down the list and plucks the useful ones from his memory, hesitating briefly as he skimmed his eyes across the lengthy, taking half of the scroll with it, Jutsu description.

His fingers drag on the ink again and his mind sparks to life. _Why not use it? Why not show them your strength? Show them who you are—Uzumaki Naruto, child of the—_ it shuts up before it finishes and Naruto sits in silence for the better half of his conflicted inner thoughts. It seems plain, not very showy and flashy enough to get attention, but it's lengthy and his mind won't shut up if he sees it. So, he unfurls the scroll a bit more at the top, tries to read the rest of the signs, and unzips his jacket to toss it to the side.

His mind sparks, taking in the determination that pumps through his blood. He grins with the face of a Cheshire Cat and the moon illuminates the clearing he's hidden himself in.

_That's it—use it, fuel your greed, become someone they love—someone they can't help but hate. Be all you ever are and maybe you'll **survive**._

And maybe he'll survive.

A cold sweat breaks out on his body. His chest is heaving, his head is spinning, and the world tilts on its axis for a few minutes. He doesn't come back to reality until his head hits a tree and he blinks away an hour's worth of no rest. Training is difficult, he summarizes, within the short hours of his search.

He is tired, he is hungry, he is beaten and he is all bruised. The scroll lays on a tree, rolled up and all perfect, and he stumbles over. Grabbing the strap, he hauls it up and puts it over his shoulder. This is a new predicament now, he was sure that he would be seen by anyone now, but it looked like he was left to wait out for his new headband. It leaves him a bit lightheaded ( _or maybe that's the **insomnia** that was talking)_ and he grins despite himself. The blue of his eyes is lightened by the moon and he struggles to make it up a single tree.

_Not working—too weak, too little. Just a nuisance, Uzumaki Naruto—_ he tugs harshly on his hair, the pain shuts up his mind and he focuses almost blearily at the shape of a wooden cabin that probably isn't a _good_ cabin but it is a place to rest and to stay relaxed until the years—he means _minutes_ —go by as if it was frozen time. He doesn't get a chance to enter however as the bushes rustle behind his back and out of instinct, Naruto's mind spins into action and screams like it's being tortured.

_Intruder, killer, fight with your life—_

The blade leaves his fingers as quick as lightning. It slams against something—someone—and Naruto's heart drops into the pit of his stomach as a person comes out from the bushes, dark skinned with a scar across his nose and a kunai embedded into his flak jacket which was oozing blood.

"Sorry," he feels his lips go dry as Iruka yanks the blade from his shoulder and grits his teeth, "you just _scared_ me." Iruka doesn't seem to listen and only glares heatedly at him as if Naruto had admitted to putting itching powder in his underwear. ( _though it was a fun thing to watch)_. He feels uneasy, the all too familiar glare lighting up his blood and sparking up his mind.

Fortunately, Naruto has enough intelligence to see where Iruka's eyes trail too and he reaches behind him to poke and prod at the scroll on his back. "Oh," his grin returns, albeit hesitantly, "are you here to test me again, Iruka-Sensei? I learned something very uh— _nice_ in here, I've been practicing all night long!"

Iruka's face morphs into confusion and Naruto's ears twitch as the sounds of the wind shift. His mind goes into overdrive, lighting up every nerve in his small body as it screams and rattles in his skull. Someone is here, Uzumaki—this time, he spins on his heel and lets his hand grab four blades, throwing them with enough force to slam into trees and hit whoever was within them. A grunt is heard and a flash of silver hair catches his attention. His mind rattles at the sight and he feels burning fire boiling his blood to the point where it emits from his body like a wave of pure, unbridled heat.

_Show them—fight with your power—become who they fear— **survive**._

His mind shuts down and Naruto distinctly has a memory of someone screaming in pain.


	2. 月

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know I’m reuploading this but don’t mind that. I won’t update this that much but it’s still here Just in case. I will still update my other stories, not to worry. I just want to at least have more leeway with my other fandoms too.

_❝ There was blood on his hands and somewhere, he was still crying for them to come back. ❞_

* * *

In a perfect world, he is not alone. In this world, he is surrounded by people who have the same traits as him and he is loved with no conditions. Within this perfect world, he runs to his brother and gets to be trained until the sun sets. Along the perfect path of cobblestones, he is greeted by smiling faces and his chest fills out with pride as he marches by the side of his father with a glint of excitement in his eyes. 

Unfortunately this is not a perfect world.

Instead, it is a zone of a war. Blood coats the entire path of cobblestones, there is no mother to welcome him home and no father to teach him how to play with fire. There is no brother to train him and as he walks down the path, he is not beside his father with a chest filled with pride and there are no faces that smile at him as he walks past. At one point, he felt burdened by the constant nights of no sleep and the realization that he couldn't crawl into the bed of his brother or his parents to chase the nightmares away but now, all he felt was fury licking at his bones. It sparked lightning inside of his blood and burned his bones as they crackled.

He felt envy as he stared at civilians be brought to the academy by their parents. He felt exhaustion as he watched the leaves sway outside the window and thought about his home where everything was dark and he stumbled around without any light switch to brighten the halls. He even felt confusion as he saw the door open from the corner of his eyes and a white head popped inside. _White_? His eyes focused on all the people in class one by one. Everyone either had very dull hair or they had bright colors like blonde and blue and pink but white was only reserved for one person. His nose scrunched up at the thought and he leaned forward as the white hair stumbled into class.

_What is he doing here?_

As far as he knew, the classroom was reserved for those who had passed the genin exam. He had seen people walk out with headbands, he had seen him run out of the room with no headband attached to him and to see the platinum blond jumping into the class as if he had passed all along left him feeling rather uneasy. _Did he take some sort of retake?_ He knew that retakes of such an exam wasn't allowed but he had always seen the white haired boy with the Hokage of the village so it wasn't too far fetched that he had been given some retake by the old man.

_But that still doesn't answer why he's here._

It answers some of it, he has to admit, but he was not genin material. He couldn't form a clone, his skills lay in butchered transformation and horrible pranks, and as far as he knew—the white haired boy was the utter dead-last of the class, even _Shikimaru_ was in the high ranks and that kid hardly stayed awake long enough to know what a clone even _was_. Yet this kid, this _loser_ , was in the same graduating class as him.

His lips curled slightly as he continued to watch. For every explanation he came up with, his mind had an equally formed comeback. There was just no way that someone like him would be lumped into a class where everyone—even the small civilians scattered all over—were the best of the best. They were, in a more simpler term, the elites of the academy.

_So what makes him so specia_ l?

Other than that mop of white hair on his head and those shimmering blue eyes, Sasuke could not find a single thing special about the other boy. The six whiskers on his face, three on each cheek, were not of any importance when skill was concerned. Unless he was some sort of undercover girl, the uchiha was certain his whiskers were just some random birth mark and not some sort of hidden power revealed to everyone he's ever seen. His eyes trailed over the way the boy argued with Inuzuka Kiba over why he was here.

" _Only people who **pass** get to be here, Naruto_!"

He watched Naruto's face fill with anger and then it turned bright red and Sasuke was reminded of a very strange marshmallow roasting over a fire. He gave a blink at the thought, shook it off, and sighed once more as Naruto took to stomping up the steps, fully ready to sit down right in front of him.

Then the door slammed open.

Now, Sasuke would never admit he felt afraid. He would never admit that he was close to jumping out the window, he wouldn't even admit that the sudden shouting of _Sasuke-Kun!_ freaked him out. Instead, he brought one of his hands over, snatching Naruto up by the back of his collar and yanking him over to sit right beside him. He tried to ignore how light the other felt to him and dismissed it as him being just a bit more physically strong than the little twig that was blinking moronically at him.

Once again, he was reminded of a marshmallow that was being roasted. Those big blue eyes looked at him quizzically before Naruto huffed and turned his head to receive Sakura's daily dose of her shouting for him to move, joined by the top Kunoichi of the class—Ino Yamanaka. The girl made Sasuke feel impressed. She was his fan girl, no doubt about that, but she had not only managed to beat Sakura in intelligence and him in physical power but she was also able to win the spot amongst many other clan females who were all seething with rage.

Perhaps—Sasuke wouldn't mind Ino if she wasn't so loud and clingy to him—not even Sakura did it that much and she was the same girl who Sasuke found to be annoying, pitifully annoying in his opinion. He shook the thoughts away again, focused on the very irritating blond-white kid who was way too happy to be considered normal and sighed, he wondered how many times he was doing that, once more. This, he thought, was boring and not only was it boring but it wasn't going to help him get stronger.

The she-devils ( _the girls with no backbone, no strength, no intelligence—the kids who were even weaker than **Haruno Sakura**_ ) were making all the noise they could. Naruto sat next to him, Sakura on his left, and they screamed and screeched like a wide group of bats as Sakura launched to her feet and gave them all a grin, sticking out her tongue—pulling down her eyelid—laughing as the fury grew until a girl threw a hard cover text book of _The Ninja Arts_ at her and Sasuke blinked with a bit of surprise when Sakura ducked and took it off from the floor to throw it right back with an obnoxious yell of _Cha!_

Sasuke thought he was with maniacs.

His eyes trailed over to Naruto. Hopefully the idiot wasn't going to start acting crazy like Sakura. In his unfortunate despair, however, Naruto was focused intently on— _something_ right before him and Sasuke followed his line of sight, saw absolutely nothing written on the black board and furrowed his brows as Naruto continued to stare and continued to stay silent and he felt slight fear crawling up his spine at the way his classmate did not move.

It evaporated when Sakura sat back down.

She was grinning, slightly panting, eyes wide and almost sparkly. Sasuke dared to look over to the she devils she had faced and was almost impressed with how they all were groaning. He wondered what she did in the span of a few minutes—she wasn't _that_ strong to beat a bunch of girls up—at least, Sasuke thought that was the case. Looking away from the pink haired girl, Sasuke was almost glad when the teacher came in—Iruka Umino, the dark skinned man with a scar on his nose and a bright will to teach them all. Today, however, he seemed shaken—his eyes slightly wide and his smile a bit lopsided.

It really wasn't any of Sasuke's business how Iruka felt however the man was his Sensei and curiosity was a cat that wanted to stick its nose into every little nook. He followed the man's gaze and not very surprisingly found it landing on the idiot of the class, the dead last of the academy—Uzumaki Naruto.

He supposed any teacher would glance at Naruto with disdain or confusion—Sasuke knows he sure has—but he also knows that the look Iruka gave his supposed foster son was anything but confusion—in fact, Sasuke could have sworn to hell and back that it was _fear_ deep in his Sensei's eyes. He didn't know why the fear was there or why it was directed to the blond of all people but it interested him and even more so when Iruka cleared his throat and tapped his pen on his clipboard.

"Today," he sighed, "you are all Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village—"

Sasuke tuned the rest out. He could very well go back into listening when it was something important for him to hear. Instead, he discreetly paid more or rather a sustainable amount of attention to the other things going on in the room. Sakura was beaming with unrepressed happiness as she leaned so close to the edge of the table, she looked ready to fall off. His gaze went to Naruto who was twiddling with his two fingers, unable to look at Iruka as if he had done a bad thing. Briefly, he wondered what happened for Naruto to become silent in the class but whatever it was, he was eternally grateful.

There were other things happening beside Naruto's creepiness and Sakura's overly happy grin, however, and Sasuke soon saw that in the far back, Shikamaru was fast asleep—Ino was staring at the back of Sakura's head with murder in her eyes, Choji was eating a bag of potato chips that he had possibly given other people, and further to the front were the others. Hinata didn't look too interesting, though he knew of her clan's feud with his now deceased one, and at the far left of the class, Kiba leaned back in his chair and chattered off until Iruka threw a chalk at him, his chair wobbling before he crashed with an insufferable bang. Sasuke tried not to show he had winced at the sound and took his attention to Shino, the other more quiet person of the class.

He never talked much or moved much or really, did anything. Sasuke found him much better than all of the loud, screaming idiots he usually faced ( _Perhaps Shikamaru was an exception—if he didn't sleep all the damn time)_ and Sasuke almost hoped that Shino was on his team—though he didn't like teams to begin with—and the constant droning on and on of Iruka's voice makes his supposed excitement vanish like the wind. A sigh leaves him and when he finally decides to tune into whatever words his Sensei is telling them all now, he finds them glued to a pair of bright blue and almost topples to the floor.

Naruto's blue eyes are frozen over and Sasuke steels his expression to glare at the silent boy. His ears can only vaguely hear what Iruka is saying and after the blonde turns his head to the front again, Sasuke is just quick to return his attention to their Sensei who had been calling out the teams for a while now.

"Team seven," he drones on, Sasuke can't help but ignore it. He stays fixated on a butterfly flying near the window. Sasuke feels the need to let it fly inside and land on him. He wants to touch it and watch it fly around gracefully like an insect worthy of the beauty it held and— _listen, Listen and you will learn and he's on **your** team_. His head snaps forward just as Iruka finishes the last name. "—and Uzumaki Naruto."

His head spins, teeth grinding against each other as Naruto shoots up from his seat and whirls around to point an accusing finger at him. He talks and talks and Sasuke mutes his voice until the boy gets up close and personal and the last Uchiha feels fear crawl up his very spine as Naruto's eyes glaze over and his lips curl into a sneer of some sort. The boy looks annoyed but Sasuke can't tear his eyes away from the darkened blue that has been shifting before his eyes like wildfire.

The word leaves his lips before he can stop it.

" **Demon**."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm alive. I know that I've been gone for quite a while but I promise it wasn't anything very bad. I finally decided to update my books first now that I'm finally back online so I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I wonder how the pieces are now? What happened last chapter? Why is Naruto so different? What happened to Iruka? You can answer these yourselves in the comments if you wish to! 
> 
> Next up:
> 
> 伝説—Legend.

**Author's Note:**

> Isn't this a toss? Here's the first chapter of Bastard and I hope you enjoy! I'll be cross posting this so don't worry if you want to read more. Thoughts on Naruto? You can imagine your own ending if you want, it's no matter to me, but I do hope you enjoyed this. 
> 
> Next Chapter:
> 
> 月—Moon.


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